Recoiling field gun mounted on a carriage lifted off wheels for firing



Jan. 30, 1968 H. w ALDRIN 3,366,009

RECOILING FIELD GUN MOUNTED ON A CARRIAGE LIFTED OFF WHEELS FOR FIRINGFiled Jan. 15, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet l I N VEN TOR.

HENRY W/LHELM ALDE/N BY Mm ATTORNEYS Jan. 30, 1968 H. w. ALDRIN3,366,009

RECOILING FIELD GUN MOUNTED ON A CARRIAGE LIFTED OFF WHEELS FOR FIRINGFiled Jan. 18, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N V EN TOR.

HENRY W/L HELM ALDR/N BY Hm A 1' TORNE r:

Jan. 30, 1968 H. w. ALDRIN 3,366,009

RECOILING FIELD GUN MOUNTED ON A CARRIAGE LIFTEJD OFF WHEELS FOR FIRINGFiled Jan. 18, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 7 I NVE'N TOR.

1 HEN/Q 7 W/L HELM ALDP/N BY QM Mmm United States Patent Office3,366,009 Patented Jan. 30, 1908 3,366,009 RECOILING FIELD GUN MOUNTEDON A CARRIAGE LIFTED OFF WHEELS FOR FIRING Henry Wilhelm Aldrin, Bofors,Sweden, assignor to Aktiebolaget Bofors, Bofors, Sweden Filed Jan. 18,1966, Ser. No. 521,282 Claims priority, application Sweden, Jan. 19,1965, 686/65; Apr. 1, 1965, 4,197/65 3 Claims. (Cl. 8940) ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLUSURE A recoiling field gun mounted on a wheeled cradle, thewheels of which can be moved into a lowered travelling position or araised firing position. In the firing position the gun rests on theground by means of a base plate. The gun cradle is supported on the baseplate rotatably through 360 about an axis eccentric in reference to thebase plate to permit full traversing of the gun.

The present invention relates to the type of guns which have carriagetrails, the free ends of which are provided with wheels or the like,which wheels function as ground supports during firing of the gun andalso as members facilitating the transport of the gun when only saidwheels are in contact with the ground.

Known types of such guns, which usually are called howitzers, are mostoften provided with so-called split trails, which have two trail memberswhich are directed rearwards, and which are joined together at theirfront ends by means of two wheels. At said ends, the gun barrel is somounted that it can be elevated. In the firing position, the carriagetrails are spread apart, and have their rear ends fastened to theground. When firing such guns, a so-called tipping moment will arise,which is counteracted by the moment resulting from the weapons ownweight. It has therefore been necessary to make the guns relativelyheavy, which is an obvious disadvantage, for instance from the point ofview of handling. Owing to the recoil force, heavy bending stresses alsoarise in the carriage trails, and these have, consequently, had to beheavily dimensioned.

As will be noted from the foregoing, guns of the type herein referred toas now known are both unWieldly and heavy, and it has therefore, for along time, been a desire to be able to reduce the weight of the guns,thereby obtaining more simple designs. In the French Patent No. 597,110,a device is described according to which the problem of the weight ofthe firearm has been partly solved. According to this known device, therear end of a recoil jacket is supported in the two ends of a yoke, thecenter of which, in turn, is movably supported in an anchor plate. Fromsaid yoke, two carriage trails also extend, which are directed forwards,i.e. towards the muzzle of the gun. At the front ends of the carriagetrails, a member resembling a tracked vehicle is fastened, by means ofwhich the gun can be traversed round the anchor plate. However, thisdesign has a certain disadvantage, viz. that it cannot always be used,for instance when the ground on which the gun is resting should be toouneven.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the problem of makingusable a gun of the type described in the French Patent No. 597,110 alsoon uneven ground. According to the present invention, the improvementdesired is obtained by the carriage trails with recoil jacket and barrelbeing rotatably arranged about a generally plane plate.

The present invention will be described in more detail in conjunctionwith the attached drawings, in which FIGS.

1-3 show a gun according to the invention in two different positions,viz. a transport position and a firing position, in which FIGS. 2-3 showthe device according to the invention from the side and from above, andin which FIGS. 4-6 show a modification of the gun in the same positionsas according to FIGS. 1-3.

In FIG. 1, the elevating mass of a howitzer is shown, supported bycradle brackets 6 and carried on carriage trails 14 and 15. Only one ofthe brackets 6 and the corresponding carriage trail 15 are shown inFIG. 1. At their upper ends, the brackets are formed to receive twotrunnions, of which the trunnion 7 is shown in the figure. Thesetrunnions are arranged in the rear end of a recoil jacket 9, in which abarrel 10 with a breech which can recoil, are arranged. The recoiljacket 9 also includes two recoil buffers 12 and 13. From each carriagetrail, a rod 39 extends, on which corresponding carriage shields 40 and43 are fastened, as is shown in FIG. 3. The sights and the aiming gearare fastened to the carriage shields, and in a known manner control twohydraulic lifting bars or hydraulic lifting bars 46 and 47 which can beextended in some suitable manner. The lifting bar 46 has one of its endssupported by a shaft (not shown) in the carriage trail 15, as shown inFIG. 1, while the other end is supported also by a shaft (not shown) atthe recoil jacket 9. The hydraulic lifting bar 47 is arranged in thecorresponding manner.

The carriage trails and shields are fixed to a circular plate 54according to FIGS. 13. The part of the yoke which connects the shieldsmay be formed by the circular plate. This plate 54, in turn, isrotatably supported on another plate 55. The centers of the two platescoincide, and they are joined to each other in an appropriate, knownway. Between the plates 54 and 55 there are control members, which arenot shown, which for instance may consist of a gear are on one of theplates and a gear wheel on the other plate. In the present case, it isenvisaged that the plate 55 has a circular gear arc and the plate 54 isprovided with a gear wheel, which is in mesh with the gear arc. The crewmember in charge of aiming the gun, by means of his aiming gear, canimpart movements to the gear wheel so that he can determine the relativeposition between the two circular plates.

Two wheels 19 and 20 are arranged in such a way that they can only beraised and lowered between an upper and a lower position. When thewheels are in the upper position, the circular plate 55 rests upon theground, and when the wheels 19 and 20 are in their lower position, thepart of the plate 55 which is located near the wheels loses its contactwith the ground, as is clearly shown in FIG. 1. The corresponding partof the plate 55 can be raised and connected by a towing hook 58 to atractor 53, as is indicated in FIG. 1. In this figure, the gun is shownin the transport position. When the gun is to be placed in the firingposition, the wheels 19 and 20 are raised to their upper positions andthe plate 55 then comes into contact with the ground surface.Thereafter, the plate 55 is detached from the towing hook 58, and placedon the ground. If now, the ground surface should not be entirely plane,it is very easy to place some appropriate filling material between theplate 55 and the ground surface. The plate 55 is also provided withperipheral holes 56. Through these, plugs 57 can be driven, so that theplate 55 will be better anchored. When the gun is in this position, theman aiming the gun can turn his hand-wheel, whereby the plate 54 onwhich the gun is mounted is caused to turn on the plate 55 to thedesired position independently of any uneveness of the ground.

It should be obvious that instead of the plate 55, a ring can be used,and that between these two elements appropriate members can be arranged,e.g. a ball hearing, so that easy rotation is obtained. When the deviceis con- 3 structed in this manner, the two plates or elements need notbe joined together at their centers.

The modification mentioned in the foregoing is described in more detailin FIGS. 46. In these figures, the parts which correspond to parts inFIGS. 1-3, have been given the corresponding reference numerals.

The structure according to FIGS. 46 differs from the one according tothe foregoing FIGS. 1-3 in that instead of the plate 54, four radiallegs 58 are provided. The legs extend from the turning center, which inthe present case is .exactly the same as for the tructure according toFIGS. 1-3. Furthermore, a fixed plate 54a may be arranged between thecarriage trails, which is rotatably supported in the center of a baseplate 55a. At the ends of each leg, wheels 59 coact with a circulartrack 5517 on the plate 55a. By means of said wheels and the centralsupport, the carriage trails, together with the elevating mass, canrotate round the center of the plate 55a. The wheels may have anysuitable design, provided only that the carriage trails with theelevating mass can be turned a complete revolution, for fully traversingthe gun. It is also possible to provide the track 55a on the lower platein the form of a gear arc, the wheels then being replaced by gearwheels.

If the free ends on the track 58 have wheels which have a smallcircumference, the lower plate 55a must be provided with a circular geararc further in, which coacts with a driving gear wheel which in one wayor another is directly or indirectly fastened to the carriage trails sothat the gun operator can effect the desired traversing of the firearm.

What is claimed is:

1. A movable mounting assemblage for a recoiling gun,

said assemblage comprising in combination:

a support frame;

an upper base plate and a lower base plate, the lower base plate beingsupported by said support frame in substantially horizontal position andthe upper base plate being rotatably mounted upon the lower base plateparallel thereto;

a pair of running wheels on a common shaft supported by said frameadjacent to an edge portion of the base plates movable between a raisedposition in which said wheels are above the level of said lower baseplate whereby said plate can rest upon a supporting surface for the gunassemblage and a lowered position in which the wheels protrude below thelevel of the lower base plate whereby said plate is lifted above thesupporting surface, said raised wheel position constituting the firingposition of the gun and said lowered wheel position the transportposition of the gun;

lifting means coupled to said wheel shaft for selectively raising andlowering the wheels;

a gun cradle including a pair of parallel spaced-apart trails secured tothe top side of said upper base plate and extending across the upperbase plate straddling the rotational axis thereof, said trails definingbearings at one of the ends thereof;

'a gun barrel;

a recoil jacket mounting the barrel and having near its rear end a pairof trunnions received in said bear- 1ngs, said barrel being up and downpivotal between an' elevated position and a depressed position inreference to the upper base plate, the height of the bearings above theupper base plate being just suf- 6 ficient to elevate the gun barrel toa predetermined angle of elevation, traversing of the gun barrel beingeffected by turning the upper base plate with the cradle secured theretoin reference to the lower base late.

2.3 1 movable mounting assemblage for a recoiling gun, said assemblagecomprising in combination:

a support frame;

a base plate supported by said frame in substantially horizontalposition;

a circular guide track secured to the top side of said base plate;

a pair of running wheels on a common shaft supported by said frameadjacent to an edge portion of the base plate movable between a raisedposition in which said wheels are above the level of said base platewhereby said plate can rest upon a supporting surface for the gunassemblage and a lowered position in which the wheels protrude below thelevel of the base plate whereby said plate is lifted above thesupporting surface, said raised wheel position constituting the firingposition of the gun and said lowered wheel position the transportposition of the lifting means coupled to said wheel shaft forselectively raising and lowering the wheels;

a gun cradle including a pair of parallel spaced-apart trails, and legsextending from said trails and engaging said circular track on the baseplate for rotating the cradle in reference to the base plate, saidtrails extending across the diameter of the circular track straddlingthe center point thereof and defining bearings at one end;

a gun barrel;

a recoil jacket mounting the barrel and having near its rear end a pairof trunnions received in said bearings, said barrel being up and downpivotal between an elevated position and a depressed position inreference to said upper base plate, the height of the bearings above theupper base being just sufficient to permit pivoting of the barrel into apredetermined angular position of elevation, traversing of the gunbarrel being effected by turning the cradle in reference to the baseplate.

3. The movable mounting assemblage according to claim 2 wherein the freeends of said legs are secured to a support plate (54a) rotatably mountedon the base plate (55a) and rollers (59) secured to said legs are inrollable engagement with said circular track (55b).

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,108,763 8/1914 Koch 894O1,174,517 3/1916 Muller 8940 1,723,623 8/ 1929 Kennedy 89-41 X 1,297,4453/ 1919 Christie 8940 1,829,669 10/ 1931 Pavesi 89-40 FOREIGN PATENTS237,869 10/ 1925 Great Britain. 778,826 7/ 1957 Great Britain.

79,557 9/ 1950 Czechoslovakia.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

S. C. BENTLEY, Assistant Examiner,

